Growing up in an Italian cultured home I’ve been around homemade cooking and baking all my life. Whether it’s Christmas, or Tuesday there was a woman in my home cooking. If I wasn’t eating a homemade meal, my father was bringing us to one of his friends restaurants whom usually studded culinary in the Swiss Alps or someplace else totally impressive and ridiculous all at the same time. At 6 years old I was ordering ship cocktails to start and lobster tails and my main entree. [yes I’m surprised I’m not 500 pounds either] I’m a foodie, not because I love food, well I do, but also because the culture of food makes me smile. Imagine everyone gathering around a table to enjoy something you prepared, and the joy of accomplishing or perfecting a recipe. For me there’s nothing better than sharing a meal with the ones you love.
I slowly started cooking and baking with my mom, then baking alone for family holiday parties, then eventually I lived alone and taught myself [in full] how to cook to avoid eating hot pockets on the reg. Since my taste buds has been incredibly spoiled I had to go beyond the idea of cooking consisting of pasta and Ragu sauce, not to mention my “health freak” tendencies made me actually want to make meals like my mother did. So began my journey of learning how to cook. Many of my friends are always telling me I must teach them how to cook but have no idea where to start. So here’s where to start:
1. Olive Oil– if you don’t have olive oil or some type of cooking oil [if you have no idea what cooking oil is start with Extra Virgin Olive Oil] STOP RIGHT NOW get in you car and drive to your nearest store by it.. I’ll wait. Olive Oil is basically used for everything from dressings to sautéing. Seriously, if you don’t have olive oil give up now.
2. Spices– Of course you can go without spices but what is the fun in that? Also many spices help aid digestion AKA helps your metabolism and who doesn’t love that? Things you definitely should think about getting: Salt and Pepper grinders [yes grinders, way fresher and yummier that way], Garlic [powder works, I also like having the already minced garlic you can put in the fridge for sautéing foods or adding directly into pastas], Basil, Chilli Powder, Cumin, Thyme, Cilantro, Rosemary. These are a few of my personal essentials, remember before you cook to actually look at the ingredients and buy what you’re missing before you start cooking. If this is way too much to handle for say a meat dish McCormick makes these awesome trays of spice that you just dump in with chicken and BAM its a meal. Here is their spices 101 for more info.
3. Measuring Cups & Spoons– Since you most likely have no idea what you’re doing you’ll probably need to measure your olive oils and spices until you can eye how much a tablespoon is. This avoids making something to greasy or garlicky or whatever else you’ve ever done wrong while cooking
4. Cutlery & Cutting Boards– Cutlery means knives. This is for cutting stuff. I have 3 cutting boards and more than 10 knives. Different sizes of different things is good in the cooking world, mainly because everything is different consistencies so they require sharper/bigger knives. Many stores sell these items together like this, and this.
5. Pots & Pans– Also sold in sets, start with something like this and maybe one bigger frying pan like this one as well. You need these for obvious reasons, like to cook which is the main goal here.
Lastly, you need a recipe, don’t go crazy thinking you know what you’re actually doing, lets be honest if you did you would’ve already had cooking oil in your home already. Rachael Ray is cliche and really overplayed herself but she actually had no idea what the hell she was doing when she first started cooking. Literally this chick made up stuff and called it a recipe and served it where she worked [a supermarket ] when really it was the food on sale that week, great selling technique turned career.
Happy Cooking! -R
Rachel Begins Here... 